Top Items:
Ali Soufan / New York Times:
My Tortured Decision — FOR seven years I have remained silent about the false claims magnifying the effectiveness of the so-called enhanced interrogation techniques like waterboarding. I have spoken only in closed government hearings, as these matters were classified.
Discussion:
JustOneMinute, Firedoglake, The Daily Dish, American Prospect, Ta-Nehisi Coates, TalkLeft, Emptywheel, Matthew Yglesias, ATTACKERMAN, Shadow Government, PoliticalBase.com Blog, The Washington Independent, Buck Naked Politics, Newshoggers.com, At-Largely, The XX Factor, Swampland, MoJo Blog Posts, Balloon Juice and American Street
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Scott Shane / New York Times:
Interrogations' Effectiveness May Prove Elusive — WASHINGTON — Even the most exacting truth commission may have a hard time determining for certain whether brutal interrogations conducted by the Central Intelligence Agency helped keep the country safe. — Last week's release …
Charlie Savage / New York Times:Any Indictment of Interrogation Policy Makers Would Face Several Hurdles
Discussion:
Los Angeles Times, Wall Street Journal, Townhall.com, JustOneMinute, Washington Post and Law Blog
Ceci Connolly / Washington Post:
GOP Stymies Vote on Sebelius — President Obama will have to wait a bit longer to round out his Cabinet. Senate Republicans refused today to allow a confirmation vote on his health secretary nominee Gov. Kathleen Sebelius (D-Kan.). She is the last Cabinet member awaiting Senate approval.
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David M. Drucker / Roll Call:
GOP Plots Revenge — Reconciliation May Shut Down Senate — As Senate Democrats move closer to using reconciliation to pass health care reform this year, key GOP Senators are signaling plans to avenge the move by employing parliamentary tactics to trip up even the most noncontroversial of agenda items.
Chris Cillizza / The Fix:
John Ensign's Unapologetic Critique — John Ensign wants to make one thing very clear: he's not sorry for saying it was “irresponsible” of President Obama to be seen laughing with Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez at last week's Summit of the Americas. — “That visual image is going to be used …
Discussion:
Ben Smith's Blog
Michael Calderone / Michael Calderone's Blog:
WaPo hires Prospect's Klein — The American Prospect's Ezra Klein, one of the top bloggers on politics and policy, is heading to the Washington Post. — Rumors about Klein's upcoming move spread on Wednesday night during a reception thrown by The Nation magazine in honor of D.C. bureau chief Chris Hayes.
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Myglesias / Matthew Yglesias:
Ezra Klein Hired by Washington Post — My very good friend Ezra Klein has been hired by The Washington Post to do a blog for their website, as reported by Mike Calderone. So first off, congratulations to everyone—good for Ezra, great hire for the Post, etc.
Discussion:
Outside The Beltway
CNN:
Johnston 'didn't think it was going to get this rough' — (CNN) — A year ago, few outside of Wasilla, Alaska, had ever heard of Levi Johnston. All that changed last summer when Gov. Sarah Palin accepted the Republican vice presidential nomination. — Soon after she entered the national spotlight …
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Jeff Stein / SpyTalk:
Intelligence Officials Tipped Pelosi To Harman Wiretap — Intelligence officials, angry that former Attorney General Alberto Gonzales had blocked an FBI investigation into Democratic Rep. Jane Harman's interactions with a suspected Israeli agent, tipped off Nancy Pelosi, the House Democratic leader …
Discussion:
The Hill, TalkLeft, Capitol Briefing, At-Largely, Outside The Beltway, MoJo Blog Posts, The Raw Story, TPMMuckraker and Mondoweiss
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Steve Benen / Washington Monthly:
CHU WASN'T THE ‘BAFFLED’ ONE.... Arrogance is almost always unseemly, but I think there's an important distinction to be made between conceit and misplaced arrogance. The prior is merely unseemly; the latter is humiliating. — Yesterday, at a hearing of the House Energy and Commerce Committee …
Discussion:
Bob Cesca's Awesome Blog!
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Amanda Terkel / Think Progress:
Larry Summers falls asleep during meeting Obama's meeting with credit card executives. — Today, President Obama met with credit card industry officials at the White House. After the meeting, he pledged to push for a law that would offer “strong and reliable” protections for credit card users in the United States.
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Ralph Z. Hallow / Washington Times:
Steele urged to label Obama a socialist — State RNC leaders raise dissent — Republican state party leaders are rebelling against new Republican National Committee Chairman Michael S. Steele for failing to dub President Obama and the Democrats as “socialists.” And the rebels insist that the label matters.
RELATED:
Stuart Rothenberg / Roll Call:April Madness: Can GOP Win Back the House in 2010?
Discussion:
Glenn Thrush's Blog
Joe Klein / Time:
Sizing Up Obama's First 100 Days — The President almost seemed apologetic. “This may be a slightly longer speech than I usually give,” he told his audience at Georgetown University on April 14. “This is going to be prose and not poetry.” What followed, as promised, was not poetry.
RELATED:
Pew Research Center:
Obama at 100 Days: Strong Job Approval, Even Higher Personal Ratings — Better Ratings for Foreign Policy than Domestic Issues — As he approaches the 100-day mark of his presidency, Barack Obama's job approval ratings are higher than those of his most recent predecessors.
Discussion:
Real Clear Politics, Los Angeles Times, The Swamp, Democracy in America, Political Machine and Daily Kos
Andrew Sullivan / The Daily Dish:
Why Debate The T-Word? — Steve Chapman asks the torture supporters a question: … Trying to find a consistently principled position among these people is hard. Why? Because their arguments, like those of Yoo, Bradbury and Bybee, are entirely designed to legitimize decisions already made.
Discussion:
Obsidian Wings
RELATED:
Associated Press:
AP Poll: After Obama's 100 days, US on right track — Featured Topics: - Barack Obama - Presidential Transition — WASHINGTON - Millions of people jobless. Billions of dollars in bailouts. Trillions of dollars in U.S. debt. And yet, for the first time in years, more Americans than not say the country is on the right track.
New York Times:
Pakistan Sends Special Police to Taliban-Held Area — ISLAMABAD — Pakistani authorities on Thursday deployed special constabulary forces to a strategically important district only 70 miles from the capital, Islamabad, that has come under the effective control of the Taliban in the last several days, police and residents said.
RELATED:
Liz Rappaport / Wall Street Journal:
Lewis Testifies U.S. Urged Silence on Deal — Bank of America Chief Says Bernanke, Paulson Barred Disclosure of Merrill Woes Because of Fears for Financial System — Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke and then-Treasury Department chief Henry Paulson pressured Bank of America Corp …
Discussion:
Josh Gerstein's Blog, Associated Press, NO QUARTER, Taylor Marsh, Hot Air, Clusterstock, naked capitalism, ProPublica and JustOneMinute
Karl Rove / Wall Street Journal:
The President's Apology Tour — Great leaders aren't defined by consensus. — President Barack Obama has finished the second leg of his international confession tour. In less than 100 days, he has apologized on three continents for what he views as the sins of America and his predecessors.
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